Eternal India Encyclopedia

Eternal India encyclopedia

PERCEPTIONS

KAALA CHAKRA (WHEEL OF TIME) The duration of each Yuga is computed by years of gods. A year of the gods is equal to 360 years of man. So 1. Krita Yuga 4,800 4800 x 360 = 1,728,000 2. Treta Yuga 3,600 3600 x 360 = 1,296,000 3. Dvaapara Yuga 2,400 2400 x 360 = 864,000 4. Kali Yuga 1,200 1200 x 360 = 432,000 Total 12,000 4,320,000 A day of Brahma = 1000 x 4,320,000 = 4.32 x 10 9 years Each yuga or age represents a progres- sive decline in virtue, morality, happiness and longevity. In the Krita yuga the duration of human life was 4000 years. In the Treta 3000. In the Dvaapara 2000. In the Kali yuga there is no fixed measure. We are at present in the Kali yuga which according to tradition began in 3102 B.C. the year of the Mahabharata war. The Krita is the golden; the Treta the silver; the Dvaapara the cop- per and Kali the iron age. The four yugas constitute the Ma- haayuga of 4,320,000 earthly years. One thousand Mahaayugas or 4,320,000,000 earthly years make a kalpa, ‘a day of Brahma'. "At the close of this day of Brahma, a collapse of the universe takes place, which lasts through a night .of Brahma, equal in duration to his day, during which period the worlds are converted into one great ocean, when the lotus-born god (Brahma) expanded by the deglutition of the uni verse... sleeps on the serpent Shesha. At the end of the night he awakes and creates anew." - (Vishnu Purana) ... at the end of the Kali-yuga there is pralaya, or destruction, and the cycle begins all over again. We are at present living in a Kali-yuga, although opinions differ as to how near we are to the final destruction. Given the incredible amassing of nuclear material over the last few decades, enough now to destroy not only mankind but all life on this planet many times over, it seems that we are nearer the end than is generally believed. But, then, we must also be nearer the new be- ginning, the dawning of the next Satya-yuga! - Dr. Karan Singh

The Hindu thinkers had evolved, not a linear, but a cyclic theory of time made up of yugas, manvantaras and kalpas. The universe is without beginning and without end going on recurrent phases of manifestation and dissolution. The yugas or ages of the world are four in number. In the first yuga called krita, whose du- ration is computed to be 4,800 years of gods (each year of gods being equal to 360 years of men), there is perfect and eternal right- eousness and the Dharma is standing on all its four feet. In the next three yugas viz treta, dvapara and kali, consisting respectively of 3600, 2400 and 1200 years of gods, Dharma gradually decreases by one-fourth, remain- ing to the extent of only one-fourth in the present kali yuga. At the end of each kali yuga there is tremendous destruction after which the golden age appears again This cycle of creation, destruction and recreation of the world goes on eternally.

A day and night of Brahma make up 8640 million years. 360 such days and nights constitute a ‘year of Brahma ’ or 3,110,400 million earthly years. His life lasts for 100 such years, that is, 311,040,000 million years. This is the largest cycle in Hindu cosmology after which the whole universe returns to the world spirit until another creator god is evolved. Within each kalpa there are 14 manvantaras or secondary cycles, each lasting 306,720,000 years with long intervals between them. Each man- vantara contains 71 Mahaayugas, a thou- sand of which form the kalpa of 4,320 million years. At the end of each manvantara, the world is recreated and a new Manu appears as the progenitor of the human race. We are now in the seventh manvantara of the kalpa of which the Manu is known as Manu Vaivasvata. The process of destruction after the end of each kalpa is described in the Vishnu Pu- rana. "At the-end of a thousand periods of four ages the earth is for the most part exhausted. A total death then ensues, which lasts for a hundred years, and in con- sequence of the failure of food all beings become languid and exanimate, and at last entirely perish. The eternal Vishnu then assumes the character of Rudra, the de- stroyer, and descends to reunite his crea- tures with himself. He enters into the rays of the Sun, drinks up all the waters of the globe and causes all moisture whatever, in living bodies or in the soil, to evaporate, thus drying up the whole earth ....... " Time never stops "Time never stops — it ever flows : the future rushes towards us to become the present, and moment by moment it merges with the entire past. In this river of time you and I stand, work and achieve. With eyes fixed on the Goal, to strive on in the present becoming the architect of the future, is 'creative living'. In this we employ Time. We are masters of Time. To live weeping for the past, wasting the present moments, shuddering with imagi- nary fears for the future is self destructive, 'suicidal living'. In this time employs us. We then become slaves of Time. Surrender to Him all your regrets and fears, and work with blind audacity for Truth, in Truth, with Truth.

First is Krita or Sathya meaning perfect. Krita or Sathya Yuga, the first of the ages is perfect or a four-quartered yuga. Dharma, the moral order of the world, during this age is firmly based.

KRITA

YUGA

"SATHYA " This second yuga is the Treta Yuga. Treta means three-quarters. During this Yuga, the world as well as the body of human society, is sus- tained by only three- fourths of its total virtue.

During Dvapara Yuga only two of the four quarters of Dharma are effective, reflecting a dangerous balance be- tween imperfection and perfection, darkness and light.

DVAAPARA YUGA And, finally, in the Kali Yuga, the present dark age, which began according to tradition in 3102 B .C. be- lieved to be the age of the Mahabharata war, the

world subsists on only twenty-five percent of the full strength of Dharma. During this age, man and his world are at their worst with complete moral and

KALI YUGA

social degradation.

— Swami Chinmayananda

KALI YUGA